Mon, May 29, 2017
This final episode follows the men and women racing to build London's brand new underground railway - the Elizabeth Line - in time for the first train launch in May 2017. Engineers must construct and fit out a new station at Paddington, erect a 130m-long great glass canopy to soar above the structure and plug directly into Brunel's original grade one listed station - a nerve-wracking feat. At Tottenham Court Road, workers are building underground platforms and concourses the size of an aircraft carrier in the heart of the world's busiest shopping district. The team must carefully remove enormous props that hold apart the station walls, as convoys of concrete trucks drive down Oxford Street where half a million shoppers and tourists visit, every day. In Derby, a father and son team - third and fourth generation train builders - race to construct 66 trains to ferry passengers across the 30 miles of Crossrail line. Every site and engineer must pull together as they race to deliver this new fifteen billion pound railway - one of Europe's largest construction projects - in time for the first trains roll out.
Mon, May 22, 2017
This series follows more than ten thousand engineers and construction workers as they race to complete the brand new railway directly underneath the city - Crossrail, London's new Underground - in time for the first trains to start running. Costing fifteen billion pounds, it is the biggest engineering project in Europe. Linda Miller, an engineer more at home constructing space launch complexes at Cape Canaveral, must build what will become Britain's busiest station - Farringdon - an underground structure longer than the Shard skyscraper is tall. Linda and her team battle ancient fault lines that threaten the site with flooding, race to build emergency access tunnels to alleviate pressure on a congested construction site, and piece together a giant geometric jigsaw that will form a cathedral-sized station entrance. Engineers in Whitechapel must drag the original Victorian station into the 21st century by building a brand new station on top of a bridge, while construction workers build innovative 'floating' rail tracks directly under the Barbican Concert Hall to stop noisy trains from disturbing performances as they travel right underneath the building at 90mph. It ends with a very special visitor arriving on site to give it, the railway its new title - the Elizabeth Line.
Wed, Jul 30, 2014
This episode follows engineers building London's brand new underground railway, Crossrail, as they race to build ten new train stations across London. A team battles to put together the giant jigsaw that will become a cathedral-sized station at Canary Wharf. It's so big, they have to build it in a dock and underwater. Its architect-designed roof is so complicated it comes in a kit of over 2,500 pieces. As engineers carve out the underground caverns that will become the new stations, they hit on some gruesome discoveries of London's past.
Wed, Jul 23, 2014
This episode follows engineers building London's brand new underground railway, Crossrail, as they take on a Great British obsession - building train tunnels underwater. Linda Miller, an engineer more at home building space launch complexes at Cape Canaveral, battles to rebuild a Victorian tunnel under the Royal Docks in London's East End. Meanwhile, a British tunnelling dynasty - the Bermingham family - follow in the footsteps of the original father-son team of Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel to build a brand new tunnel under the River Thames.